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25 June 2012

So Metachat, whatcha readin? →[More:]
I just got though Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts, his latest nonfiction door stopper and I have to say despite being bored with WW2 stuff - this was pretty engrossing.

For one thing, its about something different then the standard Nazi stuff; the ins and outs of the US embassy during the lead up to WW2 with a very unlikely ambassador and his family moving into the upper echelons of Berlin high society.

And it's largely pulled from memoirs, so he casts a scene and then pulls from a few different memoirs of the people present which adds to his very novelistic feel (and a level of unreality, some of the memoirs present scenes that read as very ...."based on true events" and to his credit Larson notes that anything involving exact dialogue should be taken with a grain of salt) But the main joy of the book is Martha Dodd, the flamboyant daughter of the ambassador who is at turns charming, infuriating, intelligent, naive, hopelessly romantic and a complete libertine. If she didn't exist Isherwood would've had to invent her.

My only criticism is that it's all well covered ground if you're into the "Berlin between the wars" stuff, but the glimpses into the Old Boy network of the Foreign office and how the various people perceived the historical events as they happened made for above average plane reading.

post by: The Whelk at: 11:46 | 37 comments

This summer I decided to read 5 Shakespeare plays that I've never read before. I've started with The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

posted by JanetLand 25 June | 11:56

Reading The Corrections (Franzen). Might have read it before, actually, but I can't be sure-- there's a decade or so that's a bit fuzzy for me. I really enjoyed Freedom (for all of its mixed reviews) and I'm only a couple of dozen pages into this one; so far it's quite engaging.

The Larson book looks interesting, may have to go for that one next! Last month I re-read The Devil in the White City and marveled once more at the level of detail and the sheer volume of facts that he's able to weave together.

posted by mireille 25 June | 12:35

I am taking a stab at House of Leaves, but 35 pages in and all I am getting is pretentious drivel. I am also still slogging through David Andress's 1789. He has a good eye for interesting historical detail but his writing style lacks enthusiasm. I only have Stephen King's Lisey's Story and Neal Stephenson's Zodiac on my To Read shelf, so that needs restocking.

posted by Ardiril 25 June | 12:43

Yeah i wasn't as impressed with THUNDERSTRUCK! but this one is pretty grabbing with all the BALLS! and POLITICS! and NAZIS! etc

posted by The Whelk 25 June | 12:44

Oh, just A Storm of Swords. I feel a little embarrassed that it's not all obscure and stuff, and always feel a little inadequate in MeFi reading-land, because I read a lot of fluff.

posted by fancyoats 25 June | 12:49

Ardiril, I ended up skipping a bunch of parts of House of Leaves that didn't relate to the exploration of the actual house-interior. The creepiness of that interior was totally the best part for me.

posted by fancyoats 25 June | 12:52

Redshirts

posted by plinth 25 June | 12:58

The new Bradt guide to Somaliland. I'm already going to Socotra next year, but I always buy a handful of extra guides to daydream and brainstorm about future trips.

posted by mykescipark 25 June | 13:02

I'm still trying to get through House of Leaves. I started it sometime in 2007, I think? I have to be in the right sort of mood to read it though (which doesn't come very often, I'll admit).

Rereading Kushiel's Scion for the 28739573th time and am working my way through The Witches' God.

posted by sperose 25 June | 13:11

The oft-recommended (on Mefi) Tigana, by Guy Gavriel Kay. It's been on my to-read list for years and I've no idea why I haven't gotten around to it until now. Am enjoying it immensely.

posted by gaspode 25 June | 13:17

Read through some movie books lately: Tales from Development Hell and Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. Now I'm mostly reading PHP and Django tutorials as I'm starting to look for a job. I'll probably pick up Redshirts though, looks fun and I've liked all of Scalsi's other stuff.

posted by octothorpe 25 June | 13:52

For learnin me somethin, I'm going through The Gnostic Scriptures, by Bently Laytoh - again. I'm trying to understand the basic creation myth so I can read the rest of the books with a better understanding of the concepts and language they used. In this study, I might have to branch off into some history, too. Elaine Pagels work will likely enter into the mix, as well.

For entertainment, I'll start going through Asimof and Bradbury. I have this idea that I should have at least tried to read the classics and, for a month of so, I keep hearing their names come up. Truth be told, however, I find some of these "Classic" novels to be absolutely insufferable.

posted by MonkeyButter 25 June | 14:07

I'm reading The Great War: American Front by Harry Turtledove. It's an alternate-history novel in which the Confederacy has won the Civil War and is an independent country as WWI breaks out. I'm not in love with it but it poses some interesting ideas about how things might've played out.

posted by workerant 25 June | 14:07

Having a second go at "A Star Called Henry" by Roddy Doyle: bought it years ago when it came out but couldn't get into it. About 2/3 through now, it's OK but still doesn't really grab me.

posted by TheophileEscargot 25 June | 14:39

Code Name Verity, recommended by leesh, I think it was.

Trying to describe it to my girlfriend in terms of movies because she is movie-based, so far I've said it's like Heavenly Creatures meets Saw.

posted by fleacircus 25 June | 14:48

Just discovered a new writer (well, new for me), Charles Yu. Downloaded a couple samples to my iPad. Read about him in the recent Poets & Writer's magazine. Seems wonderfully off-center, sic-fi literary fiction/"metafiction." Not everything I pick up from P & W pans out, but I adore this so far. Just read the opening of How to Survive in a Science Fiction Universe. Brilliant. You can just tell, like some molten chocolate lava cake. You know from the first bite. And what's delightful is I have three whole books to enjoy by him this summer, including a new one coming out next month. I'm definitely ordering that cushy reclining chair for the porch.

posted by Pips 25 June | 14:54

I loved both Larson books and your review of Garden of Beasts is right on, The Whelk.

I'm slowly reading, as I am really enjoying it, Gaiman's American Gods.

And I'm listening to Jodi Piccoult's Nineteen Minutes, a surprisingly sharp and disturbing novel about bullying and school violence.

posted by bearwife 25 June | 15:06

I'm about to start Scripting Hitchcock: Psycho, The Birds, and Marnie, but first I want to watch Vertigo and Marnie again. (I actually just watched The Birds a few months ago, so it's still pretty fresh in my memory.) I'm also slowly making my through The Ambient Century. by Mark Prendergast. It's interesting, I just haven't had a lot of time or energy to read, these last couple of weeks.

posted by BoringPostcards 25 June | 15:32

The wife got me a Nook for Father's Day. So I'm reading Under the Dome by King and Redshirts by MeFi's Own John Scalzi.

posted by Splunge 25 June | 15:59

Recently finished Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies and Robert Harris's The Fear Index. Taking a breather before starting Robert MacFarlane's The Old Ways and reading another Harris book my wife found at Oxfam.

Still have about eleventeen books on the bedside table.

posted by tortillathehun 25 June | 16:00

In my pile are:

Let's Pretend This Never Happened, by The Bloggess, Jenny Lawson
The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King, by Michael Craig
A Waste of Time, by Rich Worley
and
The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood

I recently finished The Obamas by Jodi Kantor, based on the interview the author did with John Stewart on an old Daily Show, and found it to be an awesome read and not the horrible thing that the White House said it was. It paints Michelle Obama as a real, realistic woman and re-affirmed my belief in Obama's presidency. Maybe it may not be the most accurate thing, but it's still pretty awesome.

posted by TrishaLynn 25 June | 16:21

Just finished Townie, which was just excellent; now going back to The Warmth of Other Suns.

posted by Miko 25 June | 19:11

I have not much going now. I've been reading stuff to prepare for our upcoming vacation in September. But really, nothing else. Too much going on in our lives the last coupla months with everything. Hopefully we can settle down in a few weeks and I can start reading in earnest again. I try to keep up with The Economist, but even that is tough right now.

posted by eekacat 25 June | 19:32

Ah bearwife, I'm jealous, you get to read it for the first time...

posted by The Whelk 25 June | 20:26

Actually the more I think about it the more the Larson book seems like an excuse to publish Martha Dodd's unpublished memoir cause he pulls so much from it ( and she has a great, breathless high romantic style)

posted by The Whelk 25 June | 20:28

I'm in the middle of Townie and just finished Harvey Pekar's Cleveland.

When I was at Bradford,The Tap was the only place in Haverhill one could take parents; now it's a brewpub.

The "town and gown" separation is going to continue now that a bible school has taken over Bradford.

posted by brujita 25 June | 20:29

Isabelle Allende, Vamped, Batgirl, Master and His Emissary, The Pale King, Steve Martin, Sookie Stackhouse, but much more interesting is my new music.

posted by ethylene 25 June | 20:31

Timothy Egan's "The Worst Hard Time" and the aforementioned "The Devil in the White City", which I love. I just finished Chris Adrian's "The Great Night", I basically love everything he's written.

posted by msali 25 June | 21:29

Oh good grief, y'all. I read for fun. I sometimes read things that are worthwhile, but then I sometimes read trash.
I recently read Medium Raw by Tony Bourdain, and it was pretty good. I'm co-currently reading Russell Brand's "My Booky Wook" (trash) and Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" (decidedly not trash and a total comfort read).
Before that, it was an Anita Blake vampire/were porn (Very much trash).

I just got a nook, so I'm having fun figuring out what I can get through our library and have it be easy.

I'll look to this post to get more substantial stuff, for certain.

It's summer and hot, so I've been lazy.

posted by lilywing13 26 June | 01:35

I'm mostly re-reading at the moment - Middlemarch, and Revelation by C J Sansom. The latter is the fourth in a series of Tudor murder mysteries that I have thoroughly enjoyed over the last few years. The main character is very interesting - a lawyer who has a disability. The author is also a historian and it shows in the best way, not in a "look how much research I've done" way.

I failed to get through Neal Stephenson's "Quicksilver" last summer because he really wears his research on his sleeve and it was annoying me.

I've also recently read Julian Barnes' "A Sense of an Ending" which is a very interesting book and I want to read it again.

posted by altolinguistic 26 June | 04:02

Pips, thanks for the mention of "How to Survive in a Science Fiction Universe". That totally looks like something I'd read, I think I'll put it on my Kindle for the holiday weekend.

posted by octothorpe 26 June | 05:44

Awesome... I didn't, however, get the title quite right (my bad)... It's How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. Charles Yu is the author, though. Enjoy!

posted by Pips 26 June | 08:21

Mainly reading "Permutation City" by Greg Egan. It looks like a standard "upload yourself to a computer" sci-fi novel at first, but Egan seldom disappoints. He always gives the reader plenty to think about.

Next on deck is Ready Player One, which I got myself for my birthday after endless people telling me how great it was. Fingers crossed.

Pips, I was looking at that book at The Strand. Let me know how it is.

Also, I'm on goodreads.

posted by Eideteker 26 June | 10:13

I've been so busy with my business I haven't felt like reading something non-business related in about 4 years. I'm afraid it will sap some of my energy from the world of work, so I haven't been indulging.

I really miss escaping into another world through a book. You guys have inspired me to add to the list & get the mrs to download a few to her kindle for me. Many thanks.

posted by chewatadistance 26 June | 11:25

Haven't been reading much lately, which will change when I go back to commuting by train next week. Currently reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King, which I'm really enjoying.

posted by dg 26 June | 16:17

We just finished discussing In the Garden of the Beasts and commented that the problems facing the U.S. Government in the 1930's are the same as the problems facing it now; the countries have changed, the blindness and fanaticism of world leaders have not.

May I promote myself? I just published a book called The Conspiracies of Dreams which is about an Egyptian spy who falls in love with an Israeli woman. It is a combination of Romeo and Juliet, Samson and Delilah, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and spans 3,000 years of history. It is available on Amazon and I would love to know what your critical views of it are. Your reviews are always spot on.

posted by Macduff 30 June | 15:13

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